OK, like kids, I suppose you shouldn’t have a favorite critter, or maybe pets are in a category of their own. But we all know we do, so share your tales of the tails (and the rest) of the one who you love the most or miss the most.
I’ll be back with mine.
Ralphie is a very avid quilting assistant:
I always wondered if you could stitch together a cat out of bits of other cats — Frankenpuss!
First, from the last MMP:
Not in this case. It’s the unfinished attic over FCD’s shop. Under a steel roof. Not insulated. Not even a good place to stash a body. Or so I would imagine. And anyway, what we put up there were the two foundations from the twin beds, against the day the lofts are replaced by regular beds.
Now, for the current one: Bernie was my favorite, once she stopped chewing on the recliner handle. She liked to sleep in the middle of the floor - I almost tripped over her in the dark one night.
We got her from the no-kill shelter when we lived in Florida. Best guess of her breed was a mix of border collie and lab. She looked like a border collie until she got a haircut, then you could see the lab in her.
She was sweet and gentle - she earned her Canine Good Citizen certificate! I wanted to take her to nursing homes and such, but she also, alas, had heartworms at the time, so I wasn’t allowed to. Then we moved and life got crazy and she was never a visitor. But we did get rid of the heartworms.
She was a sweetheart till the end - nearly 16 years old - but she developed doggy dementia (or whatever it’s called) and we made the tough decision. That was 12 years ago.
All of our canines and felines had their good points, but Bernie was still the best as far as I’m concerned.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 76 Amurrkin out and N.O.S. with a predicted high of 95 with scattered light rain showers. We shall see. RDOS is the big plan of the day. I do need to call the pharmacy when it opens to refill a ‘script, which I suppose counts as some form of activity. However, we shall don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed and go to the hog trough GC for today’s main need to feed. That shall be N.O.L. We’ll also go pick up the 'script whilst out and about. On the plus side the GC and the pharmacy are near each other.
My favorite pet of all times was a cocker spaniel named Jake, AKA, BoBo. I loved that little critter with all my heart and when he died from cancer in 1997 I was devastated. Matter of fact, still sorta am. I never wanted another dog because I do not want to go through that again. He had me well-trained. When he wanted a treat, he would nudge me and then go into the kitchen and sit at the cabinet where the treats lived. If I didn’t get up, in a few minutes he would come back to where I was and give me this little “humph” sound to show his disapproval at the lack of forthcomin’ treat. Then he would get the treat. I’d get the same “humph” sound if I was not ready to go to bed when he was ready. Some of y’all will also remember that I was the sometimes “nanny” for a chee-hoo-ah-hoo-ah named Joe Dawg. I mention my friend JDD here sometimes. That means Joe Dawg’s Daddy and when JDD and Partner would go out of town for a few days Joe Dawg would come and stay with me. This was all pre OYKW days, although we already knew each other, just had not gotten together yet. I was kind of devastated when Joe Dawg died and miss him but not near as much as I miss my sweet BoBo.
From the last MMP:
Pilot hope the ophto can help you get some relief for the cornea today. ICK!
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. I suppose I shall also purtify and maybe go ahead and don the acceptable attire. I suffer so for my public!
Happy Moanday Y’all!
ETA: MOOOOOOM I remember meetin’ Bernie. As I recall she loved butt skritches.
Yeah, Bernie loved her butt skritches. She also loved to shed - it took some weeks after she was gone to get it all vacuumed up from all the corners…
Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 17c/63f with a predicted high of 18c/64f, and rain showers. Weather app says “This rain is the perfect fucking excuse for you to say inside and be lazier than you fucking normally are.” Must be having an RDOS day!
I’ve had some wonderful cats in my time, I think my favourite past pet would be Orly. She was a red tabby, three shades of ginger and female which is a little unusual for red tabbies. I called her Orlando (after the book series by Kathleen Hale, Orlando the Marmalade Cat) because that’s exactly the colour she was.
I had Orly as a kitten, she was abandoned by her stray mother in a friend’s garden. The friend couldn’t keep the kitten because she had dogs, so she called me and I took the little 'un. She was with me for many years and was excellent company. When I first met 'im indoors, he was working abroad so only home on alternate weekends, I used to pack myself and Orly up, drive to the airport to collect him, and then drive over here to his house. Orly loved being in the car, she’s settle on the parcel shelf at the back, stretch out and have a sleep while I was driving. I’d leave her in the car with a window cracked open while I went to meet him at the airport, then we’d drive here and she would curl up on his lap quite happily until we got home.
Of my current pets, Shadow is the king of the house and he knows it. He’s around 20 years old now so most likely on his last life but he’s making the most of it! He has thyroid issues so he’d on regular medication for that but he’s stable and healthy, despite being an old boy. He gets around ok, and seems to have no problems with his hearing as he knows exactly when those tins of food get opened!
I am working at home today, got stuff to do but little motivation. I’ve got some music on to help me, as 'im indoors is out at the gym (and coming back with yummy lunch) so I can listen to whatever I want without bothering anyone else. It’s a short week for me too, we’re off down south to a music festival on Friday so I need to get myself organised for that. I also need to venture out of the house later as I need to drop some stuff off at someone else’s house, and it’s rubbish collection tomorrow so I need to empty the bins and get that out tonight.
Morning all. 78F heading to 93F with a 1-in-4 chance of rain today and tomorrow, so we’ll see if that shows up. Shopping-n-sammich-n-swimming-n-sauna are on the agenda for today. I also need to get over to the ear place and see about an appointment (I was on vacation right after the ear exam so probably missed connections). That’s on the schedule for Tuesday now.
As for pets, I can remember a couple from childhood, a dachshund named Tina was probably the most beloved, she was with us for nearly 10 years but met a rather tragic end She was the apple of my Father’s eye and adored him. But she also liked sleeping under the car outside (we didn’t have a garage where we lived) in the summer and one day Dad had to go somewhere and didn’t check where she was… 
. After that, there just wasn’t much spirit in the house for a new pet.
When I got out on my own, at first I didn’t have much space or time and as I grew older I became more set in my routine and never got the urge to adopt (and adapt) to a canine or feline companion. My loss, of course, and I still make friends with any pooch or kitten that strays into my path.
And that takes care of the introspection for the week. Let’s have a good time all.
MetalMouse - is the exercise bike you ride upright or recumbent?
Yes. 
Actually, I split my time between the two types, usually do 20-30 minutes on the upright and then after a short break, do the same on the recumbent. They are located adjacent to each other in the gym. Usually set it at level 13 (fairly strenuous) and burn about 10 calories/minute (at least according to the computer on the bike).
Mornin all’! Almost 9am here. No time to drivel but here’s a short update.
Eye is still screwed up but no longer major painful; just achy. A dab of topical anesthetic is plenty. Slept through the night just fine and am ready to tackle the day. Monocularly, but close enough.
Food next then off to ophtho.
Cheers all!!
I heard the trash truck come rattlin’ by earlier & am currently snuggling with a cuddle-monkey, but man, do I not wanna be awake yet.
The phone saga continues … now my parents got the phone back on under what was supposed to be the original number and are snail-mailing me a SIM card which I’ll hafta install/switch out myself.
To say that messing with hardware is not one of my strengths would be an understatement, so I am not looking forward to this part.
Wow, my childhood dog (a miniature poodle) was also Tina!
Actually, I named her. I was around 6 at the time and had one of those weird childhood obsessions with a random person - in my case, Tina Turner.
She was a Very Good Dog, too. Pretty chill (anyone who’s read my descriptions of my mother can guess she was not lax with discipline, so yappiness was simply. not. tolerated) and had that poodle intelligence and intuition (she absolutely knew if you were in a playful mood vs. not feeling well vs. just wanting to give scritches) and had zero problems with the fact that I spoke to her in English, my mother in Polish, and my father in Brazilian Portuguese.
Plus the whole “no shedding” thing.
A sim card is pretty simple. You’ll get a sim tool (very small pointy thing), pop the tray, put it in (it will only go in one way) and pop it back in. If you get stuck, message me on FB and I’ll video the process.
To answer the OP, while I’ve loved them all, Nelson is my favorite, quite possibly because he’s been the only one that I’ve gotten while living alone. While he can be a little @$$hole sometimes, he’s also a cuddle bug and all around great companion.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, have a small load of clothes ready to go to the dryer, a grocery list made and am fixing to do KP. After that, I’ll pay bills, get a few cards ready to mail and go do errands.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Pilot, I’m glad your eye is better and hope the ophthphth visit is further helpful.
Every cat has been my favorite cat.
[Wanders out to check on and feed vacationing neighbor’s cats.]
I miss my kitteh - he used to perch on my shoulder while I was cooking and watch the spoon go 'round, and sit on my lap like a pup when I watched TV. Since overlygirl was terribly allergic to him, we had to rehome him, but found a very kind gentleman who would send me Christmas pics of the kitteh every single year until he passed at the ripe old age of 18 (our cat, not the gentleman).
Today is going to be hot as blazes. I’m working from home until tomorrow, possibly a bit longer. I learned something over the weekend. Did you know that if your fever gets high enough, fast enough, it can cause sudden hypertension that distorts and has the potential to damage, your vision? I mean, my husband had cotton wool spots that were a result of unchecked high fever several years back, so I kind of knew, but ugh. Yuck.
Fever is gone but slight fuzziness around the edges and mild distortion remains. I’m meeting with the ophthalmologist this afternoon before I drive anywhere. At least the pounding headache is gone and I have some ability to pay attention. I’m pretty sure I’ve rotted away what was left of my brain over the weekend. Hopefully that’ll grow back.
Here’s hoping that works, my comp is still in boxes. While I have loved them all, some of them loved me harder. Steve lived to breathe the same air as me. When I came in the door, he would RUN to me and as soon as I sat down, he was on my lap with his arms around my neck while he purred so loud I could barely hear Hubs greeting me.
He came with our last home. We thought he was feral so trapped him for TNR. He had a gash in his belly that was getting infected, so we let him heal in the bike barn for a week before releasing him. Steve never acted anything but feral to Hubs at that time so we just wrote him off as another wildling that we would feed but not see.
A couple of years later, Steve started coming to me when I was out smoking and asking for gooshy fud. A month later, I was holding him and cuddling him and a week after that, he came inside and never went back out again.
Unfortunately, he came to us preloaded with FIV and a skin condition that made him lick himself bald. The treatment for his skin suppressed his immune system and when he finally crashed, it was hard and ugly.
I still miss that cat.
So once again, we were short handed, and once again Green Belt nuked 5 totes of peoples packages. Also, all the supplies we ordered from Corporate had to be data entered. I don’t know if that means they screwed up sending the data, or it’s a sign of a Stalinist style erasure of our building.
As far as favorite pets, Gordie was my favorite(and the hoopy-est of froods), especially having him for 14 years.
But Spot may give him a run for his money
Anyways, off to get Carmen fixed.
Glad the eye is a little better, Pilot
a thin paperclip works in a pinch.
I love it!
My favorite dog was an Aussie that I named Shadrach (Shad). Smart as a whip and great companion. Got him from a shelter in Central CA and he moved with us to Idaho when I went to Uni there. We rented a farm house and he had the run of the place. He would go play with the horses and the cows in their pastures, playing “chase” with a young colt. One morning there was a knock on the door. A man had hit and killed my beloved pet as he ran across the road. It was 50 years ago and I still mourn that mutt.
Favorite cat is the one we have now. A tuxedo who bonded with me early on. She’s now in decline and it will be a very sad time when she’s gone.
The humidity and heat are gradually easing up and it should be pleasant later in the week. They’re doing a senior version of the Olympics here at The Home. I was going to enter the 10 meter mosey, but it wasn’t part of the program.
I’ve had pets (mostly cats) since I was 4 or 5 and I also love them all! I stole my first one - our neighbor showed us her cat and kittens, and I slipped one into my bathrobe pocket and smuggled it home. My mother caught me immediately, of course, and she took me back to the neighbor, who gently explained that the kittens were too young to leave their mother. An eternity later, two kittens (one for my brother) appeared in our kitchen. I’ve never been without one since.